Figure 1.

Model of the life cycle of a clinical document. The life cycle model has 3 axes: Stage, role and action, as described in the text. This model can be applied to electronic documents in an EMR system, paper documents and hybrids such as electronically generated templates that are completed with handwriting. Rules (not shown) described in the text determine what actions can be performed by what role at each stage of the document's life cycle. Black dots indicate examples of roles and actions involved in each stage. Rules may pertain to certain document types (Progress note, discharge summary, operative note) and not to others. The lists of Roles and Actions contain examples and are not complete.